Jurgen Klopp has told Eintracht Frankfurt to channel Liverpool’s never-say-die spirit to shock Chelsea and book a place in the Europa League final.
Frankfurt boss Adi Hutter has revealed Reds boss and friend Klopp sent him and his squad a message of support ahead of the European clash at Stamford Bridge.
Liverpool pulled off one of the greatest European comebacks in Tuesday’s 4-0 Champions League semi-final second leg win over Barcelona at Anfield, to reach the final 4-3 on aggregate.
And now Klopp and Hutter have urged Eintracht to capitalise on that feel-good win, when facing Chelsea with their Europa League tie in the balance at 1-1 after the first leg.
“Well he wished everything for Eintracht Frankfurt, and I did congratulate him for reaching the final,” said Hutter, of his conversation with Klopp.
“I watched the game and I was really absolutely enamoured with this match.
“If you really believe in something it shows you can put that across to your team.
“His team played really fantastically; they showed passion, they were really brave and had that little bit of luck.
“His team played the way they had all year, and I hope that’s what my team can do.
“Everything is possible. The favourite is Chelsea but once you get this far you want to get into the final.”
Frankfurt capitulated 6-1 to Bayer Leverkusen at the weekend, in a stunning collapse that has led to quickfire inquests among the Commerzbank Arena squad.
Jetro Willems has been dropped from the squad after that Leverkusen hammering, the Dutch defender not even travelling to England.
Eintracht will have 2,235 fans inside Stamford Bridge on Thursday night, with as many as 3,000 more travelling to London though without tickets.
Boss Hutter insists Eintracht are the underdogs, though the visitors should have the influential Ante Rebic back after suspension.
“We analysed the defeat, we spoke about it, about individual actions in the game but I’m not going to reveal everything that we spoke about,” said Hutter.
“We don’t need to motivate our players any more than usual because we’re playing here at Stamford Bridge.